Handlebar Mustache
by Charlie O'Kelley
Summary: My submission for the Castle Fan Awards 2012 story, written just for the Awards. "Castle & Beckett stuck in an empty room with a radio, a cat, a sharpie and a single cup of coffee." Check out my twitter for some artwork to go with this story.


This story was written for the 2012 Castle Fan Awards. It was written just for the awards and I can tell you that I had a BLAST writing it. 4Evercaskett, Teelduo, AlwaysHappier15 and Angie J. all helped out in various ways, from being a sounding board, beta reading it, creating special artwork that I'll post on my twitter later, to giving me some advice about eye liner pencils which I never have used. I have been asked just how I came up with this but I honestly haven't a clue. The story requested the following things, "Castle & Beckett stuck in an empty room with a radio, a cat, a sharpie and a single cup of coffee" Disclaimers: I don't own Castle just the crazy mind that came up with this. I hope you enjoy! Check out my twitter for the picture that goes with this story and more info on the Castle Fan Awards.

Takes place in December 2011 after the episode Cuffed.

Kate's mind slowly awoke but she kept her eyes closed. For some reason she was sitting and not lying in her bed but the most interesting thing was that she was wrapped in a pair of strong arms. She was holding on to him also and one of her hands was stroking across the broad chest beneath it. She trailed her hand down lower but was surprised when the man grasped her wrist and stopped the movement.

"Um, Kate."

"What?" she mumbled, rather annoyed but obviously still half asleep.

"You might want to move your hand," Castle said in her ear.

"Huh?" She sat upright and looked at his face then her hand clasped in his against his stomach, revealing surprisingly firm muscles. "Castle!"

"What?" he asked as he let go of her hand which she jerked away from him.

"What were you doing?"

"Hey, I wasn't the one that, um, had wandering hands," he defended himself. "At least we aren't cuffed together this time."

"Thank God," she mumbled. "Where are we though? And how did we get here?"

"No clue. I woke up a while ago then I fell back asleep," he explained, not quite meeting her eyes.

"What did you do?" she asked him with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing to you."

"Castle?" she warned.

"I got bored. You know how I am. I don't have my phone so I can't play _Angry Birds_ or _Where's My Water_. I don't have any paper so I couldn't write even though I have a sharpie."

"A sharpie?" she asked, still not completely awake.

"You know, a pen," he said as he pulled a permanent marker from his back pocket before replacing it. "Which is weird because Alexis usually hides these from me. Ever since the time I almost gave her a handlebar moustache with one."

"Castle, focus!" His eyes met hers quickly before falling back to look behind her. "Since I don't see a moustachioed Alexis and you already said you didn't do anything to me, what did you do?"

"I was just sitting here, thinking about the last time we were locked in a room together. I figured that it was good that at least this time we weren't cuffed and there was no tiger when I looked over and saw that," he said as he pointed behind her.

Beckett couldn't help it and she knew that she would forever deny what happened next, but she quickly stepped behind Castle before looking over his shoulder at what he pointed at. She walked closer to the tiny white kitten that was sitting there and picked it up.

"It's so cute," she said. "What unusual markings though. I've never seen a white cat with black stripes before."

Kate looked up at Rick and saw him looking anywhere but at her, looking anything but innocent.

"Richard Castle! Give it to me."

"Give you what?" he asked, still trying to look innocent and failing miserably. Kate simply cuddled the kitten closer to her, held out her other hand, and narrowed her eyes at him. He swallowed and handed over the sharpie.

"I can not believe that you wrote all over this cute little kitten. Castle, how could you?"

"I told you," he tried to defend himself. "I was bored."

"So you drew tiger stripes all over a kitten?" she asked, aghast.

"Well, it didn't seem to mind," he said as if that were the most logical thing.

"And a handlebar mustache?" she exclaimed. "You drew a handlebar mustache on a cat?" she turned to the kitten in her arms. "I can't believe what that big silly man did to you, you poor kitten."

"It could have been on you but you have the gun," he said logically.

"Oh, it is too early in the morning to deal with him and no coffee, don't you agree?" Kate asked, still speaking to the kitten.

"Hey, no fair ganging up on me," he whined before he noticed a cup of coffee sitting up against the wall. "Hey, here's some coffee."

"Oh thank you," she said happily taking the large cup. "Only one cup?"

"That's all I see. Is it good?" he asked, hoping that she would share with him. She didn't say anything just held out the cup and let him have some. She glared at him while he walked away drinking her early morning elixir. "Oh, this is good."

Kate walked up to him and tried to get the cup back but he held it up just out of her reach, smiling when he realized that she wasn't wearing her signature heels and so he was taller than her. Normally, he would never try to keep coffee away from Beckett but he just couldn't resist. She was standing there barefoot, clutching a tiger striped kitten and demanding coffee. He knew that she wasn't able to really do anything to him unless she put the cat down. His smile grew when he could tell that she realized exactly that.

Kate startled when the radio in the corner suddenly came on and Castle quickly wrapped his free hand around her to steady her. They both stood still and listened to the woman sing about how a man had broken through all the woman's confusion and even with all the ups and down, he still didn't leave, he found her. Kate stopped trying to fight him for the coffee, her hand falling to rest against his chest, over his heart.

"You did that you know," she said. "You found me, Rick."

His hand came down to pull her into a tighter embrace as she leaned up slowly, her eyes focused on his lips. Her lips were nearly at his when the song ended.

"Good morning, Big Apple! This is Dapper Dan, your DJ here this cold winter morning." Kate's eyes popped open as she pulled back from Castle. She was surprised to see that she was actually sitting on the couch with him and he was sound asleep. Her hand really was on his chest and his were around her but he wasn't holding any coffee. Kate sniffed and knew that spending the extra money on the programmable coffee pot was worth it. She looked in the hand that had been holding the kitten and saw what surely had caused this weird dream. It was a stuffed cat that he had obviously taken a sharpie to so that it would look more like a tiger. She remembered now how he had come over the night before to give her an early Christmas gift and he ended up watching a movie before they both obviously fell asleep.

Kate didn't pull away any further from him but just sat there thinking about how her dream ended and how just being here felt so good, so right. She thought about the song that played earlier and she knew that it was right, he did find her. Kate knew that she was going to have to do some serious thinking about how and when to tell him about her feelings for him. She looked closely at him and thought how handsome he was while asleep. She noticed the scruffy chin and upper lip and looked back at the toy kitten with a smile. She hadn't said anything earlier about the handlebar mustache when he gave her the toy but she could imagine that her dream was accurate. He probably did have to get permission from Alexis to have a sharpie, and for exactly that reason too. Maybe not specifically a handlebar mustache, but she knew that her often childish partner would have tried something probably several times.

Kate smiled wider as she got an idea then eased out of his arms, leaving him the kitten to cuddle. She was back in a moment with a sharpie and one of her liquid eyeliner pencils. She carefully drew a very impressive handlebar mustache on his upper lip with her eyeliner. Kate knew that she was probably going to have to get another one now but the thought of the look on his face was certainly worth the expense. She was just finishing up when his lip began to twitch. Kate quickly dropped the eyeliner behind one of the couch cushions as she pulled out the sharpie only to put it away when his eyes opened.

"Kate?"

"We feel asleep before the end of the movie," she said letting her eyes fall to his lip.

"Do you have coffee?" he asked, unsure why she kept staring at his face. She poured two mugs of steaming coffee and without saying anything she fixed both of them just the way they liked them before handing his to him. Kate drank her coffee, glad to be hiding her face behind the mug because she knew she was smiling, especially once she thought about taking a picture of him.

"Is something funny, Kate?" he asked self-consciously, trying to smooth his hair.

"No. Don't worry. Oh here's your sharpie, or should I give it back to Alexis?"

"My sharpie?" he asked, still not thinking clearly, until he saw her big smile. Suddenly, he thought about what he had last done with the sharpie and after quickly putting his coffee mug down, he ran to the closest reflective surface to check.

"Kate! I have a book signing today!" he exclaimed as he turned back to her, looking shocked.

"That's okay. You can take Little Tony the Tiger with you so you match. Maybe you can start a trend."

"This is permanent. I'll need to wear make up!"

"I won't tell if you don't." He just stared at her, still so surprised that she had done that to him. "Oh, follow me and quit your whining."

"But I'm so good at it," he added an extra whiny note to his voice.

"Yes, I know," she said wryly as she led him into the bathroom. Kate pulled out one of her makeup removing wipes and quickly lathered it up and reached for him.

"That won't work, Kate."

"Yes it will, it's just makeup."

"You tricked me?"

"Please, you are so easy," she said as she showed him the cloth now with makeup on it.

"What ever possessed you to give me a mustache?" he asked his eyes watching her intently through the mirror.

"What possessed you to draw all over a cat?" she retorted as she continued to clean off his upper lip..

"I thought it would be funny," he said a bit surprised that she hadn't just handed him to cloth. "Thanks, Gina would not be pleased if I showed up with a sharpie-stache."

"You just remember that for next time then," she said not really thinking about it until his eyebrows shot up.

"You mean the next time I come over and fall asleep on your couch?" he asked jokingly but her eyes suddenly met his. Suddenly her poker face fell and the glimpse he had of an unknown expression was gone. "There you go. Just when I think I have you figured out you do something crazy."

"I gotta keep you on your toes," she said as she stepped a bit closer to him. "Part of the job description."

"And you do a wonderful job at that," he assured her.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, she spoke softly. "Rick, I- Damnit," she mumbled as her phone rang. "Beckett."

She spoke on the phone for a few moments before she hung up and had her Detective mask on again.

"Caught a case?"

"Yeah, and it looks like a crazy one. It's probably going to take a while. and I don't want to get Gina mad at me for keeping you from your signing."

"Okay. I'll come in after, if that's okay. I'll even bring you some food."

"You are always welcome," she said.

"Always?" he asked.

"Yes, especially when you bring food," she smiled at him then walked past him and out of the bathroom to get ready for work. He just stood there for a moment thinking about the look in her eyes. He realized that if he hadn't brought Little Tony the Tiger over last night, none of this would have happened. He knew that nothing really had happened yet but he felt as if they were both finally starting to take steps forward. He forced his feet to move and he followed her before he thought of something.

"Beckett, I need the sharpie back."

"Should I trust you with it?" she asked from inside her closet as she was trying to find work clothes.

"You trust me with your backup gun," he insisted.

"You drew all over a cat with the sharpie."

"Hey, at least it wasn't real," he said wondering why she suddenly started laughing. "Seriously though, Kate, Alexis is going to notice that it's missing."

"So you are going to put this back where it belongs and never do anything you shouldn't with it, right?"

"I promise," he said with his hand outstretched.

"Good because if you don't, I promise that I won't forget. And do you know how often I keep my promises?" she asked before handing him the pen.

"Always."

Song suggestion by AlwaysHappier15 You Found Me by Kelly Clarkson

Artwork by Teelduo

Thanks also to Angie J for help with eyeliner questions.


End file.
